


The Grinch: Love Hurts

by TheCinematicUniverseChannel



Series: The Michael Family Saga [4]
Category: The Grinch (2018)
Genre: Anxiety, Dopplegangers, Family Drama, Friendship, Infinity Gems, Lies, Sadness, Weird crossover elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:21:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26998858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCinematicUniverseChannel/pseuds/TheCinematicUniverseChannel
Summary: When revelations of Cindy Lou are revealed, The Grinch and Donna team up with others to find out what causes her to tick.
Series: The Michael Family Saga [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1965592





	1. The Yellow Void

Cindy wakes up in a yellow void. She's floating in midair. Last thing she remembers was she was in her bed sleeping. So it was obviously a dream.

She looked around at her surroundings. There was no one there but herself.

Then, she saw a massive yellow beam coming directly towards her.

She woke up in her bed sweating. She looks around the room quickly to make sure nothing has happened. It looks the same as it always did.

Cindy opens her blinds and they swing open to reveal the snowy and cloudy Whoville grounds.

‘That was weird.’ Cindy thought as she got off the bed. She went to open the door, but stopped herself, why was it a yellow void around her? Normally, a dream is pure blackness and whiteness and that's it.

She walked downstairs making a small thump every time she went down one. She got into the kitchen to reveal her mother, Donna, cooking away at some pancakes while Bean and Buster were messing around with each other. Cindy smiled at the mere sight of it.

"Morning mom." Cindy said, glad to see her, but drained because of the thoughts of her dream.

"Morning sweetie." Donna said while working on the pancakes. "How did you sleep last night?"

"Ah... Okay. Cindy said

Donna turned to Cindy with a smirk on her face.

"Ah come on, no one has that voice or those bags under their eyes and say that they're okay." Donna said both jokingly and concernedly. Since she worked as a nurse almost always in night shifts, she has easy time sleeping because the day always seems to drain her by 2:00 PM.

Cindy didn't even notice the bags on her face. When she saw her reflection in the window, she looked fine.

"Now come on Cindy what's on your mind. Test, didn't get sleep, fears, a boy." Donna said.

"Really mom?"

Donna laughed at her response. "Well on the plus side, at least you're not sick."

"I guess.”

Donna ejected the toast and gave it to the boys. The phone began to run. She picked up the aqua colored phone. "Hello?"

It was the Grinch on the other line. It's been two months since Grinch tried to steal Christmas, since then, Grinch, Donna and Cindy have become really good friends with each other. Grinch even made Donna a snowmobile so she doesn't have to take the bus.

"Hey Donna, good morning, since you lived in Whoville I have a quick question?" Grinch said kindly.

"Sure what it is?" Donna asked.

"What type of dog house should I get for Max, should it be tiny or huge enough for a mini house of tiny ants?" Grinch asked.

"Well I don't have a dog, but one of my friends does, she recommends that you should get a house for your dog that has their personality."

"Yeah, and also, should I bring my coffee making machine? I mean, if people come over, they'll think it's a real product.”

"I'll leave that to you. Okay."

"Okay good to know, bye." Grinch hung up the phone and Donna placed it back.

"That's a shame, he didn't say hi to me.” Cindy said, trying to be sarcastic. Donna smiled.

"Now come on sweetie, you'll be late for school." Donna said. Cindy didn't even realize what time it was. It was 7:31. Cindy hopped out of the chair and went to her room.

She came back down with a pink and white dress on. She put on her jacket and kissed her mom goodbye. And left the house.

A few minutes later, she's walking with two of her friends, Groopert and Izzy.

"So here's the thing. You're listening in class and you're like I need to go to the bathroom. But this is an important thing you need to listen to for a test. So you're like "oh my god, what am I going to do?" Groopert said frantically.

"Well, you wait till the lesson's over of course." Izzy said

"Yes, but what if it's an emergency emergency?" Groopert asked.

"I don't know why you are asking me. I'm not that type of smart."

Cindy was staying silent the whole time up until Groopert noticing her tired look.

"You had another one," Groopert said. Cindy's been having these dreams for over a week now. Only he and Izzy know about them.

"Yes." Cindy said.

"Well that's odd, I've never seen a single person expect you that has been having the same dreams for over a week. It must mean something." Izzy said.

"Come on Izzy, just because you have a reoccurring dream doesn't mean it means something." Cindy said.

"I think one of our classmates has a recurring dream trying to tell her something." Groopert said.

"Well you never know, maybe it's just a coincidence." Cindy said as they approached the school.

"Well you never know that's it not either Cindy." Izzy says.

"Look, we'll talk about this later, got that?" Cindy said.

"Got it." Groopert and Izzy said in unison.

Cindy walked into the school thinking that today would be a good day. She was wrong.

In science class, her teacher, Mr. Scott was talking about the mind and other cellular systems when Cindy began to feel funny. Her head was swimming in pain. Then, her vision began slightly yellow on the outer sides. She thought something strange was going on. Then, she felt like her head actually exploded on the inside and a hard shell was preventing it from destroying it.

The next thing she knows, she opens her eyes and she is in a bed with a towel above her head and a cup of warm water next to her. She was still in her normal clothes. So she was still in school.

"You're up."

Cindy freaked at the voice. But sighed when she realized it was the gGinch.

"What happened?" she asked questioningly.

"Well, first I was called by Donna to come get you and that something happened, I ran here and asked for answers. You just passed out all of a sudden, I was told to get your things and homework for the weekend. I ran into a few kids that really wanted to meet me, and here we are."

Cindy sighed "Must've been the headache I had."

"It's okay, I also got some meds for that." Grinch threw them at Cindy. His calculations were wrong and she looked like she would miss the catch. She caught it as soon as it went past her.

Grinch was a slight surprise.

Cindy was a surprise. She was never that good of a catcher. "That was odd, anyway, why couldn't my mom pick me up?" she said as she was uncapping the bottle and taking one of the pills and taking a gulp of water.

"Donna was called in at the last minute for a morning shift..." Grinch stopped himself "I LEFT THE TWINS AT HOME!"

"YOU WHAT!?"

"I LEFT THE TWINS AT HOME! LETS GO!"

Grinch picked up Cindy and her backpack and together, they made it back home.

When they got there, they checked every single spot of the house to make sure nothing happened. Nothing did.

"No one is telling this to your mother okay?" Grinch said

"Yes." Cindy said

Late that night, when Cindy was sleeping, Grinch and Donna were talking about Grinch's new house.

"So, we're gonna wanna make sure that we use the correct type of wood for the house otherwise it will blow away with the wind." Donna said.

"Yes. And we want to make sure that the house is sturdy enough that if there's a hurricane or something like that, while we're constructing it, nothing bad will happen." Grinch said.

A few more minutes of talking, they heard Cindy screaming.

"What's going on up there?" Donna asked;

"I'll check it out, probably just a nightmare." Grinch said.

Grinch ran up the stairs to Cindy's room, he opened the door at a normal pace. He saw a man up there with Cindy in his arms.

Grinch immediately sprang into action charging at him. but the man pulled out something that made a blue force of energy push grinch to the bookshelf Cindy had, breaking it on impact.

The man hopped down the window and Grinch slowly went to the window to see him running away.


	2. Family Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grinch and Donna try to rescue Cindy, but as they are doing so they find out who the kidnapper really is.

Grinch didn't know what to do next. He's never been in this situation. He didn't bring any of his gadgets, they're back at his place, in boxes.

Then, Donna came into the room, looking confused and worried "What's happening up here, and where's Cindy?" She asked, lost like a rabbit in a storm.

Grinch turned to Donna with a scared face "Someone took her." He said, shuttering.

Donna had tears form in her eyes fast. "How?"

Grinch began to walk to the window.

"Someone came through her window and she grabbed her like a baby and went out the window. Fortunately, there's footprints he left so..." before he could finish, he saw Donna running out of the room. Grinch knew what she was planning to do and followed her.

"Wait a minute Don, you're not actually suggesting we go out to find this person to get Cindy back?”

"I'm not suggesting, I'm telling it. Hop on the snowmobile." Donna said firmly. Grinch did what she said hesitantly. And quickly they drove off to follow the footprints.

The entire streets were covered in snow around that time, heck it was snowing right now. Donna's snowmobile was rampaging through the streets in the silent night. The snow being left behind them dropping down like rocks.

Grinch was holding on like the universe depended on it. He always thought Donna had a tough side, but it was small, he was wrong.

Within less than 3 minutes, the tracks ran out. And it was stopped at this restaurant.

Donna hopped off the mobile and sighed. "I haven't been to this place in a while."

"What is this place?" Grinch asked.

"It was where I had my first date...It was a pretty fun one let me tell ya. That's not important right now. What's important is that we get Cindy back." Donna said.

"Well okay then." Grinch said.

Donna opened the door and it was dead silent. The only light was the white snow covering up the window, leaving a gray look to everything.

Donna looked at grinch, "It's not closing time here. There's most likely hostages. I'll go get them. While you get Cindy." Donna explained as she began to walk to find them, but Grinch, confused, said "Why do I have to get Cindy?"

Donna turned back “Because I trust you. Go do it." She continued to walk. Grinch stood there for a moment, confused. He did care about Cindy. She gave him another chance when she brought him to her Christmas party. He thought that everyone hated him. But they didn't. Cindy showed him that. But would Donna trust her life with him taking care of Cindy.

Grinch grabbed a champagne bottle near him as a weapon and slowly walked around the restaurant. The place looked abandoned like a horror movie. Some chairs were on the floor, and some were broken. This made grinch shutter slightly.

He's seen a few movies since Christmas, along with some horror movies. He figures a decent location they could be in. The kitchen.

Grinch slowly walked to the kitchen. He called out for Cindy's name. Then, he began to hear some muffled screams. They were coming from the cabinet.

Grinch checked all of his surroundings. He slowly walked to it. He busted the door open and nearly smashed the bottle on Cindy's head.

"Cindy, you're okay!" Grinch said glad to see her. But Cindy wasn't cuffed or tied to anything. And the door was unlocked. Almost like, this was planned.

Again, Grinch saw a few movies, he ducked down. He heard something clash against the cabinet's metal. He looked up to see a knife in there. Cindy screamed when it happened. He rolled out of the way. He threw the bottle and it was revealed to be the guy. A blue energy stopped the bottle from coming to him.

Grinch was pulled by the energy and thrown against the wall. Then, bricks came around his hands and legs and were like cuffs.

Grinch tried to escape their grasp, but they were on pretty tightly.

"So, you're Donna's new friend I suppose. I thought she had low standards. But befriending a guy who stole all of Christmas, that might be the lowest." The guy said as he was walking around the kitchen.

"That's not important. And how do you know Donna?" Grinch said.

"It might not be the reason you want to know... I'm her husband."

Grinch gasped at the mere mention of that. This man was Donna's husband. Cindy was confused "That's impossible. My dads dead." Cindy said.

"That's what she wants you to know." he said "She doesn't want you to know who I am."

Cindy didn't know what to think or say, or what to even believe.

Then, Donna came in when in the background, people were running out of the restaurant. Donna froze when she saw the man, grinch to the wall, and Cindy in the cabinet "Lou?"

"LOU!" Grinch yelled shocked and confused.

"Told ya.” Lou chuckled.

"What do you want from my daughter, Lou, custody?"

"OUR daughter, Donna. And I'm not going to hurt your daughter by any normal level.” Lou said.

Donna and Grinch looked at each other. What is he even talking about? Normal level?

"What do you mean by that?" Grinch asked.

"Does getting tied up by bricks seem normal to you?" Lou said

"Explain it, then let her go." Donna said

"Well, a few nights ago, I was greeted by this thing that came into my prison cell. It told me that something was coming that could end all of our worlds, since the incident happened. Ever since the incident, something crashed into the prison. It was this." Lou pulled out a blue stone. It was the same color as the energy Grinch that had been thrown around all night. "I was the only one that knew about it. I could use it to break out. The thing said that our daughter was the key to everything."

"Okay, you're not making sense anymore." Donna said "This is the kind of stuff you hear in comic books."

"I know that Donna, but remember, this is a world where the incident happened." He said before getting Donna's legs stuck in the floor. Donna did her best to get out, but she couldn't.

"Donna. I didn't want to hurt you, I'm sorry I nearly killed your friend, but I've never seen him before so you can't blame me.” Lou said before using the stone on Cindy. Neither Donna or Grinch could tell what he was going to do. Cindy began to yell in extreme pain as the blue energy started to make contact with her. It felt like her entire inner body was frozen and it was coming out of her skin. Then the blue energy began to make a mix of yellow, green, purple, orange, red, and blue all in one. Then, she noticed a second body was coming out of her. She couldn't tell what it looked like, because her vision became blurry.

Donna and Grinch were horrified by what was going on. Neither of them could do anything about it.

Then, another version of Cindy flew out. The original Cindy rolled out of the cabinet, unconscious. Lou decided to let Donna and Grinch go. Donna and Grinch ran to Cindy. To check on her. "WHAT DID YOU DO!" Grinch said yelling at the top of his lungs.

"It's okay, she'll live." Lou said

"WELL WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!" Grinch asked about the other CIndy, who laid down on the floor.

"Oh, this was in her the whole time."

"What are you talking about anymore, you maniac!?" Donna asked

"I would explain but those sirens are ringing." Lou began to walk out with the other Cindy as police sirens were ringing. Grinch and Donna holding Cindy rushed out to see what's happening. Lou is using the stone to fly away.

Donna and Cindy head to leave in the snowmobile and Grinch is filling out a police report.

“Miss Donna Lou.”

Donna turned to see an officer chasing after her. “What happened there?” He asked.

“Who are you?” Donna asked.

“Officer Luke Williams. Is everything ok?” Luke asked.

Donna looked at the asleep Cindy, then at Luke. “I don’t know.” She said.

An hour later, Cindy has a warm towel on her head while she sleeps. Donna can't sleep at all. She wished that she was like Cindy. Unconscious and asleep.

She begins to sob uncontrollably. She doesn't know what to do anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't care what anyone saids, I think this concept for Lou is really interesting, compelling, and it's better than him than just being dead.


	3. Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cindy tells her friends what happened that night. Grinch tries to cheer Donna up.

Cindy slowly opened her heavy eyes as her vision was pretty godforsaken blurry. She realized she was back in her room, which made her glad. She looked out her window just to make sure. She notices that there's a towel on her head.

She runs down the stairs or more likely slides down the railing to see her mother. She sees her at the sink, she instantly rushes over to hug her.

Donna gets startled for a second but notices Cindy, she picks her up and hugs her tightly.

"I thought I would never see you again." Cindy said happily. "Neither did I." Donna said.

"What happened when I was gone?" Cindy said

"Simple, me and Grinch chased after you and we found you". Donna said

"But the thing that came out of me?"

"Unclear.” Donna said

Cindy stopped herself for a second. The moment quickly turned into something else "My dad?"

Donna put Cindy down. She placed her hands together "Can we not talk about this now." Donna said and went back to the dishes. Cindy could accept this situation if it was something else. But the events of last night, she was not having it. "Hold on, could you at least give me something?"

"Cindy I said not now."

"But he ripped something outta me like ripping paper."

"Not now, Cindy."

"This is too much to not have an answer."

"Cindy stop."

"Why didn't you tell me about this? I can handle it..."

"I SAID STOP!"

Cindy stopped her own words from coming out via a lump in her throat. She slowly put her hands down to her legs. Her mother wasn't a yeller. She just wasn't. Usually because Cindy did nothing wrong, but the boys, she kept her tone to a minimum.

Donna was somehow able to stop herself from becoming red. She noticed what she just did. She yelled at her sweet and innocent daughter. All she wanted was a simple question. She was to blame.

Donna did her best to keep the tears away. "Can we just not talk about it? Please?" She said disappointed in herself.

"Okay." Cindy said shyly and poorly.

"And take a shower." Donna said

Cindy said nothing else and slowly walked upstairs.

After the shower and getting changed, Cindy decided to give her mother some time to be alone so she decided to go see her friends. "Would you mind if I went to see my friends?"

Donna turned to Cindy "Sure, go have fun."

Cindy smiled back and closed the door. Cindy slowly walked to the side of her house. There was a little play set that was constructed. It had two swings, a slide, cabin, and under that was a bench. Cindy went up to that cabin and grabbed something from a box. A radio.

Cindy grabbed it and called into it "Grinch, Grinch, do you copy?". Ever since Christmas, Cindy and Grinch made a fun deal. Anytime Donna needed help with something emotional. She would contact Grinch to help. This was definitely one of those times.

Grinch heard the radio and grabbed it from his bed while Max was bringing his coffee. He pressed the button "Cindy I copy. Anyway, it's glad to hear you are okay after the events of last night."

"Yeah forget about that, that's not the point right now. My mom needs help." Cindy said urgently.

"Okay, well what's the problem?" Grinch said while walking downstairs avoiding boxes.

"Well, my mom and I got into a brief argument. Because she won't say anything about my dad. She yelled at me for what felt like the first time. And I don't think she's gonna hold up great."

"That is a very not Donna thing to do. Don't worry kid, I'm on my way." Grinch hung up from the radio. Cindy sidled down the cabin and began to ride on her bicycle.

Cindy stopped at each of her friends' houses making a macaw sound. Picking up Groopert in her bike along the way. Groopert was able to get a bowling ball for Christmas so Cindy didn't need to borrow her mother's.

Cindy and her friends were quickly able to make it to the treehouse where no adults knew it existed. Groopert and Ozzy were able to get everything set up for today.

Izzy, Groopert, and Ozzy sat down at a table they were able to set up with nothing but a big flat rock and logs. Cindy slowly paced around the room twirling the edges of her blonde hair. Her friends looked concerned.

"You alright Cindy?" Ozzy said.

"I'm fine. What's make it look like I'm not fine." Cindy said as soon as the speech stopped.

"We all know what happened last night. It was on the news last night. Everyone knows your fine." Izzy said.

"Do you know what really happened? Describe it." Cindy said

Groopert volunteered to tell the story. "Well, it said that you were kidnapped. Mr. Grinch and your mother were able to get you. And the kidnapper was-" he didn't finish. Grinch did tell the officer that Cindy's father was the kidnapper. He didn't want to hurt her a bit. He can't imagine what it's like for her right now.

"It's okay I know. But that wasn't everything." Cindy said.

"Well what was the rest?" Ozzy said.

"What I'm about to tell you might sound dumb or stupid, but you will promise not to laugh, and not tell anyone, got it" Cindy said sternly and a tone loud enough to make sure they heard.

"Cindy, we're your friends. We would never break a promise." Izzy said.

"First, I'll start from the beginning. Remember a few weeks ago, some who broke out of prison. That was my dad. He used this stone thing to get out. It can control space and matter itself. So when he kidnapped me, he said that I was more important than I thought. And he used the thing to pull something out of me."

Her friends didn't know how to react in the slightest form. Izzy looked confused, Groopert was shocked, and Ozzy decided to speak up "Well, why didn't whoever filled out the report say something like that?"

"They wouldn't believe them most likely."

"Isn't this a time when the incident is going on?" Groopert said, butting in on the talk.

"Everyone knows about that. But the point is, I'm telling the truth, I saw it with my own two eyes." Cindy showcased her eyes in front of them all. Groopert noticed something about her eyes. They were usually blue. Now they had a mixture of purple in their to. But as soon as it was there, it was gone.

"Cindy, somethings up with your eyes." Groopert said.

"What?" Cindy said.

"I'm not sure if it's just my head, but I saw a wave of purple come up in them."

"But my eyes are blue."

"Yeah I know that, but I thought I saw it."

"Are you sure because for a moment I saw orange." Ozzy said

"Well, I saw a glint of red for a second." Izzy said

"What are you guys talking about?" Cindy asked with a mixture of yellow and purple coming in.

"Cindy take my glasses." Izzy said.

"Fine" Cindy took the glasses and saw her reflection. There was a mix of yellow and purple in her eyes. They went back to her normal blue look.

Cindy had her jaw on the floor and quickly placed the glasses back on the table. Cindy slowly began to back away in shock.

Ozzy got up from his seat and went to confront Cindy. "Cindy, you alright," Ozzy said, concerned for his friend.

"BACK AWAY!" Cindy yelled at him with pure purple in her eyes. Ozzy fell down because of her sudden outburst.

Cindy didn't know what was happening to her. She had whatever pulled out of her, her dad might be a psycho, and now she has her eyes magically change colors. She put her back next to a corner and began to sit down.

Her breath began to be noisy and shuttering and quicker. Her eyes began to tear up senselessly. Her body began to tremble and get goosebumps. Her vision began to be unclear as she saw three different versions of everything.

"She's having a panic attack." Izzy said fastly as she slid across the table to help her. Groopert and Ozzy quickly followed pursuit.

Izzy grabbed Cindy's hand and began to guide her "Cindy, Cindy listen to me. I need you to calm down."

Cindy at this point her eyes are changing rapidly and endless tears are coming down.

"Cindy, you got this. Take in slower breaths." Groopert tried to help. Cindy tried to do what he said. She took one deep breath in, and out. In. And. Out. In. And. Out.

"There you go," Groopert said. Cindy all of a sudden threw herself into Groopert's arm. Groopert hugged back quickly. Cindy was still crying. But at least she was a bit better.

...

Grinch arrived at Donna's house. He brought Max along with him. He slowly walked to the door. It was slightly ajar, enough not to have anyone notice. He decided to turn the knob so Donna knew someone was here. He walked in and closed the door

"Donna. It's me Grinch. I decided to come on over."

Grinch saw Donna in the living room on the couch. Buster and Bean must've been asleep. She was laying down with a blanket, she was watching some random cartoon while eating ice cream, she was crying while clutching onto a photo. Grinch didn't know a whole lot of parenting skills. But an overwork parent doing something she regretted and eating ice cream to figure something out was one of them.

"Yeah, just so you know, Cindy's fine." Donna said

"Look Donna, I know you're sad, hence all of this, but you shouldn't beat yourself up over all of this. Look, just tell me the story, and let your feelings out." Grinch said.

Then, Grinch noticed the photo Donna had, it was a wedding photo of Donna and Lou. They seemed so...happy to be with each other.

"Grinch, I like you as a friend but you don't get all the weight I have on my shoulders. I have to watch my kids, handle my job, bills, and all the other things. Maybe my parents were right. I wasn't ready to be a mother." Donna said. Donna never really talked about her parents. That's mostly because she hadn't been in touch with them. Grinch always wondered this. No photos of them, no Christmas ornaments, no seeing them at Christmas, nothing.

“Look at this photo. We were both so...happy that day. I still remembered the day he proposed. It was a wonderful winter night, we were on a date, we did all we could that day without even caring. Then, he said he loved me, and asked me to marry him.” Donna said before sniffling. “I don’t even know if our love was real anymore…” She cried.

"Donna, how about we go for coffee and you can explain everything. You can stop when you want."

Donna thought about this for a moment, she turned to grinch "It's better than this." Which made Grinch smile a bit.

Cindy and her friends went to Groopert's house after that mild freak out. Groopert's mom was out getting coffee and his dad was at work. They were in his basement which doubled as a backup headquarters if anyone found out of the tree house.

It was an admittedly creepy spot. There was only one light source and it would dangle all around the place. It's a miracle it hasn't fallen. Izzy and Ozzy were talking about this whole thing in the distance while Groopert was taking care of Cindy.

"So, I suppose we all believe you now." Groopert said

"You better." Cindy said

Groopert smiled at that. "Anyway so about your father, did you know?"

Cindy sighed "no, I didn't. For the longest time my mother said he was dead. I believed her. But that night, I heard someone break my window. I woke up to see him grab me. I tried my best to get off. I hardly saw Grinch getting flown into the wall like a football." She took a second to breath. Her eyes became a slight orange. "For the whole time, I wonder if I would die. I would never be my mom again, or grinch, or any of you. I wonder if I will never grow up."

A tear dropped from groopert's eyes. He wiped it off fast "Well it's not your fault at all. You're not a mistake Cindy, you clearly know that they were married and one time, happy together.”

"But that's the problem Groopert, the question is why did he do whatever he did? What caused him to do it?"

"Well, we may never know." A lightbulb went off in his head. "Unless, we figure it out ourselves."

"I'm not betraying my mother like that.”

"Okay, I'll look up his record myself." Groopert got up and went upstairs. Leaving Cindy alone for a minute.

Back with Donna and Grinch, they took Buster and Bean with them because only God knows what those two babies could do if they were alone.

"So, what's the story?" Grinch said while holding Vean.

Donna sighs and before she could even say a word, someone tapped her on the shoulder, it was this who with orange female with a ponytail hair style with green eyes. Donna got up from her seat "MARTHA!" Donna exclaimed.

"Donna," Martha said. They hugged each other for a moment or two. Grinch just sat there weirdly. "So, *ahem* who's this?" Grinch said.

"Oh, well Grinch, this is Martha May. Martha this is the Grinch." Donna said

"Well nice to meet you, I've heard about you a few times before. You stole Christmas. That's a feat no one can do in one night.” Martha yapped on.

"Well, I had a dog." Martha looked at him strangely "That was a lot less weird in my head. Anyway, Donna and I are here because...Something happened."

"Oh. I know about the situation. I saw it on the news." Martha asked.

“Is it ok if I listen?” They heard.

They all turned to see Luke Williams. “For the case.” He mentioned.

"It's okay." Donna said

Martha sat next to Grinch and Luke sat between Grinch and Donna. A few seconds of silence began to kick into this meeting.

Donna was ready.

"Well, it all started when I was in high school. I was an open girl. Had lots of friends, had a good sense of humor, good grades, kinda like Cindy now that I think about it. Then, I met Louis. He was really cute back then let me tell ya. We became really good friends, then we became lovers. A few years after high school, he asked me to marry him, I said yes. My parents disagreed with me because I was too young. But I didn't listen and got married anyway. Then, we had Cindy. A few years later, when I was pregnant with the twins. Lou was texting someone. He left his phone out to take a shower. Forgot to turn it off like an idiot. I woke up, saw who he was talking to. To some guy and they were talking about robbing a bank. I was shocked because in high school there were rumors flying around like a kickball that he was a thief. But my hormones had more control over me and I denied them. I realized then... They were true. He came out of the shower and by that point the cops were there. Cindy was at the daycare when it happened. I told her that daddy was never coming back. But now, all of this happens, and I don't know if I can take all the punches anymore."

Grinch, Luke, and Martha looked at each other for a little while longer than expected. This was unexpected for Donna, especially for her to lie to her own kid.

"Donna, you're one of the toughest people I know. Anytime you get pushed down, you go back up. That ain't stopping at all soon.” Grinch said like an army general talking to his fellow soldiers.

“Listen to the words coming out of my mouth, we are going to locate Lou and get him back in jail. Do you understand?" Luke said.

"Kinda, but this thing is important. The kids aren’t going to find this out." Donna asked.

"I'll make sure Groopert doesn't find out." Martha said before finishing her coffee and walking out.

"Wait, she knows Groopert?" Grinch asked.

"He's her kid." Donna said

"Oh"

Grinch and Donna both walked out together, unbeknownst to them. Lou was watching them the whole time in disguise.


	4. Izzy's Guide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izzy and the others try to help Cindy with relieving stress. Grinch, Martha, Donna, and Luke team up to hunt down Lou.

Cindy woke up in a graveyard. She had no idea what this place even was. It looked nothing like Whoville. It looked like a New York type city. It was pouring cats and dogs, but she wasn't affected by it. It felt like every raindrop that went through her made that part of her body tingle.

Then, she saw this massive car pull up in front of the cemetery. 'Thank god, people.' she thought.

But these were people she never saw before. There was a woman with orange hair, green eyes, wearing a light blue trench coat. One had this pointy nose and bald head, one looked similar but had blonde hair and white clothes. Two kids were there that were about her height. One was wearing a ninja suit, while the other had overalls on.

Cindy ran over for help from any of them, but she went right through them. They looked sad and determined to do something. Cindy saw the woman walk over to the grave. She walked over to it to see who it was, 'Margo Gru' it said. "That's an odd name." she said.

Then, the woman grabbed a stone out of her pocket and put it up in the air and began to chant something.

"snoitatcepxe ruoy enifed dna efil ot kacb nosrep siht gnirb!"

A moment of silence went by before a green beam of energy flowed through the sky.

Then, time suddenly stopped.

Cindy looked around and it affected everyone as they flew through the air. Cindy looked closely at the green beam. It was seeming to pull someone out of the grave. That was a terrible sight for her to see. Most of the skin was coming back on the girl and surrounding the skeleton like a reanimated corpse.

"That's creepy." Cindy said

Then, time unfroze and a shockwave sent her back.

She couldn't tell what happened. But from her Intel, she fell on the ground, and flipped onto her bed. And the dream ended.

She looked around her surroundings. It was night time. Cindy felt cold. She checked her reflection in the mirror. She was dripping wet. It must've been the rain from the dream. If so, that was a weird dream.

Then again, with everything that was happening, she's not that surprised.

It was only 4:00 in the morning, so by then, she should be all dry.

So, she spent most of her morning reading books, and dancing. Quietly of course.

So when the time came for a normal Who to wake up, 10:20 am. She got changed, made sure her hair was dry. And went downstairs.

When she got down, Donna was on the phone with someone. She hung up as soon as Cindy sat on the chair "Morning sweetie." Donna said.

"Morning mom."

"How'd you sleep?"

"Well."

"Now I believe that." Donna said

Cindy smiled at that.

"So, how've you been holding up after that incident?"

"Better." Cindy went unspoken for a minute. Should she not or should mention the eye thing. Then again, they could use as much information they can. "Expect for one thing.” she continued

"What's that?"

"Well, when I have a specific emotion, I tend to have my eye color change."

Donna looked at Cindy with concerned eyes. "How is that even possible?"

"I don't even know. Must be some sort of side effect."

"Whatever, maybe we should get a check up soon. I see if we can get one.”

"Got that."

Then, someone knocked on the door. Cindy went to see who it was. It was her friends groopert, Izzy, and Ozzy. "Oh hey guys."

"Hey Cindy, we just decided to come over today, for company." Ozzy said.

"Cindy, are your friends at the door?" Donna said.

"Yeah they are." Cindy said.

"Oh, I just wanted to know, I'm going to do some errands. I'll be back in a few hours." Donna said

"Alright." Cindy said as Donna came with her purse and her house keys.

"Alright. Bye Cindy."

"Bye mom!" Cindy exclaimed.

Donna closed the door and locked it and went to her snowmobile to drive off and do her "errands.”

"Okay, so how are you holding up?" Groopert asked.

"Better than last time that's for sure" Cindy said.

"So, we came over to give you some help." Izzy said "First of all, the eye thing." Izzy said as she pulled out a chart.

"I was able to calculate which colors represent which emotions. Yellow equals smart. Purple equals mad. Orange equals sad. And red equals disgusted." Izzy said.

"Well, I think there's a green one too." Cindy mentioned.

"Really?" Izzy asked.

"Well, I just had this dream where these people were using this thing to bring back someone from the dead."

"Wait, was one of them wearing a light blue trench coat?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Cindy, that's in the newspapers."

"It was?"

"Yes."

Cindy tried to recall a memory of seeing that on the news. But she couldn't.

"I don't remember that."

"That's not why we're here. We're here to help you. So, we have a few ideas to relieve some of your stress. Let's start with my idea. Meditation." Izzy said.

"Alright then." Cindy said.

Meanwhile, Donna was zooming through the forest. She was going to see grinch and Martha about the whole Lou thing.

Speak of the devil, Grinch, Luke, and Martha were waiting for her in his lair. Grinch decided to start up a conversation.

"So, how long were you friends with Donna?" Grinch asked.

"Oh, well, for as long as I could remember, I was her friend. We went through all the ups and downs together. I really didn't trust Lou. He had this look to him. I didn't trust him that much. Then again, not a bunch of people did. But enough about me, what about you?" Martha said.

"Well, I don't really like getting too far into my comfort zone. It's just quite personal." Grinch said.

"That's okay, I understand it too. People have a hard time opening up about their past. It's personal to immediately go to. I'm sorry about that." Martha said.

"No no, it's okay." Grinch said.

"Oh it is?” Martha asked.

"Yeah, but it's just, I didn't really tell anyone about my past.”

"Alright, we can make it even, you can say it, when you want to."

"Deal?"

"Deal."

A moment later, Donna came down from the chair. She got off. "You know that chair is really comfy." Donna said.

"I know that because I made it." Grinch said smiling at Donna. "Anyway, so we know why we're here. Find Lou, get answers on Cindy, and get that guy arrested. Does anyone have any leads?" Luke explained, being the one running the operation.

Both Martha and Donna shrugged. Luke sighed "Well, let's guess where he could be. Donna, you knew him better than most.” Grinch said.

“You draw down places he could be, or where you two knew each other." Luke said.

"Alright guys." Donna said as she grabbed a pencil and began to draw down possible locations.

Back with Cindy, she was sitting on the rug. While Groopert, Izzy, and Ozzy observed.

"Okay Cindy, meditation is a usual way to relieve stress. So this could help with your problem. So, I want you to think peaceful thoughts." Izzy said

"Okay then, let's do this," Cindy said as she got into position. She closed her eyes and took in slow breaths. She thought of peaceful thoughts. The shining sun, the chirping birds, the blooming flowers. For a second, she forgot about everything that was going on. She felt like there was no problem.

Then, silence. Dead silence. Also, she felt slightly wet. She opened her eyes to see that she wasn't in Whoville anymore. She was in this unknown place. It had a bright orange sky and seemed to be an endless row of water.

"I think it's working." Groopert said back at her house.

"Be quiet. No order for this to work, it must be quiet." Izzy replied.

Cindy got up from the water and looked around the place. There seems to be no one there. Until she looked down, there was the other version of her she hardly saw. She tried to back away from it, it didn't work because it was a reflection underneath her.

"I can't hear her breath." Ozzy mentioned.

"Well maybe it's working.” Izzy guessed.

Cindy looked at her reflection for a minute. It almost hypnotized her. This dark blue fur, light grey hair, complete dark eye version of Cindy was somehow pulled out of her, even though she's the complete opposite.

Back at the house, the friends are beginning to notice something creepy. The lights are beginning to flicker. Objects are beginning to float up into the air. The air began to feel cold.

"Maybe it's working too well." Ozzy said

"YA THINK!?" Izzy said as she got off the couch to wake up Cindy. It wasn't working with a simple shake.

Cindy bent down to touch her reflection. Just out of curiosity.

Then in the real world, she began to float in the air. Groopert lunged onto her to wake her up. "CINDY WAKE UP! WAKE UP CINDY!" he repeated over and over again.

Cindy touched the reflection.

Cindy's eyes opened to reveal the same colored eyes as her other version. This made Groopert yelp in shock. Cindy grabbed in by the neck and they zoomed across the living room. They both slammed into the kitchen wall. Those cold dead eyes stared hardly into Groopert's soul. Which was terrifying him. Then, she said in a voice that was definitely not Cindy “Be prepared.”

Cindy was able to come back. She looked at Groopert in shock and almost immediately let go of his neck. Groopert took a second to breath. The objects fell back into their right place. Cindy realized they were on the kitchen floor. "How did we get here?" Cindy asked

Grinch, Donna, Martha, and Luke left the cave as they were going to find Lou.

With Martha, she was pretending to be a new detective. And finding Lou was her first case.

She knocked on the door and one of Lou's old friends, Michael, answered it. "Oh, Martha may, long time no see, how are you doing?" He asked.

"Nice to see you again Michael. Anyway, so, I need to find any clues on where Lou is. I'm a detective, so I need to come in.” Martha said

"That's okay, I can tell you he's not in there." Michael said

"With that, it's almost a guarantee he's here."

10 minutes later

"He's not here.” Martha said.

"Told ya." Michael said.

"Yeah, but if you see him, call me." Martha said as she was closing the door.

"Guys, he's not here." She said via walkie talkie.

"Well, I'm at my location. This really fancy bar." Grinch said as he was taking a seat at the bar. He was taking a sip outta some drink.

"Grinch, don't get drunk on the job." Luke said.

"Relax, I dump all the beer outta the cup and replace it with coffee. The Grinch, master of being sneaky." He said after taking another sip. Then, he overheard people talking about something. One of them sounded like Lou.

Grinch quickly ran over to the table "AHHA!" he yelled out. But it turned out, it was some other guy that just sounded like him. Grinch apologized "I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else."

"Oh, you got a problem with me?"

The grinch simply laughed and gave a $100 bill to the nearest waiter "Keep the change." he said before running outta the bar. The Grinch ran into an alleyway and threw himself into a trash can. He waited 4 minutes until he replied back to the others.

"He's not there." he said

"It's okay Grinch, I'm about at my location. The subway.” Luke said.

"Why would he be at the subway?" Grinch asked.

"It was one of his favorite places to go. According to Donna of course." Luke said

"Okay then, she knows him most.” Grinch said.

…

Donna entered an abandoned church. “Lou?! Are you here?!” She called out.

Birds flew around the area, cobwebs were amuck the old chairs, and the light from the windows gave the room a gothic neon noir look.

Donna walked across the place. “If you want something with Cindy, now’s your time.” Donna said as she made it to the front row.

She then remembered the day that she got married to Lou. The wonderful lights, the rings they had, the vows they said, the phrase ‘Till Death Do We Part.’ running in her head, that was the warm then, this is the cold now.

Then, Donna was shoved by a blue source of something and onto the walls. “Man, nostalgia can keep you distracted right?” Lou said.

“What the hell do you want Lou, just tell me.” Donna said.

“Like I said, all I want is to teach Cindy the ways to train her. With her powers, she can save us all from this incident and get everything back to normal.” Lou said.

“Cindy doesn’t have these powers you’re mentioning, it’s that thing you shaped out of her.” Donna spat out.

“Or so you think.” Lou said before pulling out a red gem. “Let’s show some old memories, why don’t we?” Lou asked before the gem glowed and the room dissolved into a large party room.

The two saw their past selves dancing on the floor in their wedding uniforms. “Man, I miss these days, don’t you?” Lou laughed.

Donna tried to get out but couldn’t. “You made this happen.” Donna said.

“Maybe. But you didn’t know, so it was all fine.” Lou said.

Lou got distracted by the memory that Donna was being let go by the blue stone.

Donna dropped to the ground and tackled Lou down.

She grabbed the blue stone and ran off with it, but Lou grabbed her by the leg and she fell down.

Donna kicked Lou and grabbed the stone.

Lou grabbed the red stone and tried to use it on Donna, but Donna tried to use the blue one, she opened a portal and the red stone fell in it before she closed it.

“No!” Lou yelled as the place dissolved into the church they were in now.

Donna punched Lou until Lou grabbed the blue stone and opened a portal and kicked Donna into it.

…  
Donna landed in the subway and the portal closed.

Everyone looked at her in surprise.

Luke ran up to her. “What happened?” He asked.

“Lou. He was at the church.” She said.

“I’ll let the police know.” He said before walking her out.

Back with Cindy and her friends, they were walking through the woods. It was more peaceful that way. Groopert and Cindy were quiet around the whole time. They wouldn't even make eye contact with each other. After what happened, they just wanted to forget it. Ozzy walked over to check on her. She had orange eyes at this point.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Cindy said.

"You don't seem that way."

"Does it matter? I almost killed one of my friends."

"Technically, it wasn't you."

"I almost got him killed. Is that phrase better?"

"You still didn't."

"Why are you even talking to me right now, I can hurt you any second now?"

"I don't care, I just want to know if you'll be okay."

"You don't even know what this feeling is like."

"You're right I don't. But... I've learned something over the years."

"And what's that?"

"If you send your mind on something, anything is possible with it."

Cindy looked at Ozzy with grateful eyes. Her eyes went back to their normal look. "Thanks Oz." she said. He smiled and went back.

"He's not in the church.” Luke said into the radio

“We lost him.” Donna answered.

"Well if he's not in these places, then where could he be?" Martha asked.

"I don't know." Donna said as she was on a train that one led close to the Grinch's cave.

Martha and Grinch were already there waiting for her to come.

Back with Cindy, she began to feel weird on the inside. Like the world was starting to spin without her spinning to. That's what started to happen because her mind began to race and everything began to spin. She heard this ear piercing voice in her head. She clutched onto her head trying to get it to stop.

"Stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop." she kept saying. Her friends saw her like this and began to comfort her. "Cindy you okay?" Ozzy asked.

"STOP!" Cindy said as a massive blast blew everybody away. Everything else was just a blur.


	5. Father Of Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cindy learns more about what's causing her problems. Donna and the others are ambushed at the subway!

Cindy couldn't sleep for a week. She just couldn't. She kept thinking about the event that happened. After the shockwave, Groopert nearly got impaled by a tree, Izzy had broken glasses, and Ozzy had a broken arm. Great way for something like that to happen the week before February vacation. Since it was now February vacation. She needed some dang sleep.

She was tossing and turning, had her most comfy pillow, but at last she still couldn't sleep.

That wasn't made any better in the slightest when she heard the faintest.

'Tap'

Cindy looked at the window. Nothing was there. Must've been a bird.

She has tried to go back to sleep since the incident.

'Tap'

She looked back at the window. Nothing was there again. This much be a really dumb bird.

She turned around to go back. But she saw something else.

The other version of her.

She yelled at the top of her lungs, hearing her own echo burst across the room.

"Eh, don't even bother. I've set up a 'perimeter' per say. No one can hear us, but us" the other Cindy said.

Cindy rolled off the bed to grab the nearest thing she could use as a weapon. The hairbrush was her closest object. She grabbed it ready to get in a fight, the other Cindy just looked at her blankly.

"Even if I were here to kill you, I wouldn't bother with the hairbrush. Maybe the trash can." she said as she walked past the normal Cindy. "Wait you're not here to kill me."

"No. Pff. Why would I do that? You're a kid, and you're me, that would just be awkward."

Cindy didn't put the hairbrush down "Why are you here?"

"I'm here to maybe give you some answers. Isn't that what you want? What you yearn for? With all this stuff going on, you just want to answer the question of the day?"

Cindy thought about it for a split second. "Why would I trust you?"

"Because I am you."

"The polar opposite of me, so I still can't trust you." Cindy said

"DO YOU WANT THE ANSWERS OR NOT!"

Cindy backed away. She couldn't do anything. She couldn't run into Donna's room and ask for help. She can't just run off. She can only hear her. She put down the hairbrush. "Fine. What do you have?"

"I want to give you knowledge on where your power is from." The room began to dissolve the color blue all around them. Then, it was space. Cindy looked all around to see the shining stars, and the huge planet. "What is this place?"

"It's outside the solar system. That's your area over there" she pointed to the spot where Cindy was from. "What are these other planets?" Cindy said.

"They are the ones your planet connected to when the incident happened. But that's not the point. I came here to show you... These" she waved her hands around and 6 crystals surrounded them. Cindy looked at the colors. Most of them were the colors her eyes made. "The infinity stones." the other Cindy said

"What?"

"Okay, let me explain some more." the other Cindy pulled both of them into one of these planets as a blue portal opened. They landed in the backyard of a cabin. It was sunny, grassy, peaceful.

Cindy looked around and ended up seeing a bunch of people near a lake. They were all looking really really sad. Cindy walked closer to them. There were a bunch of different people. A tree, a mantis-human like person. A big green giant with a cast on his arm. A fat long hair blonde guy. The list goes on.

"Who are these people?" Cindy asked.

"They're the protectors of this world and they used to have the stones here."

"What happened to them?"

"Some guy snapped them into atoms."

"Oh, well, why is everyone so sad?"

"Look at what they're looking at"

Cindy walked forward to the tip of the bridge that led to water. It had a coffin drifting off. And some circular objects she couldn't read the labels on.

“Their leader. He made the toughest choice he could ever make. Killing himself, to have everyone else live."

"A family."

"Wife and girl right next to us, and everyone else here."

"You brought me to tell me about the stones, why are you showing me this?"

"I did. So, the stones they had. Were mine, time, power, soul, reality, and space."

"What do they do?"

"Mind can get people heated up in an argument. Mind control people. And shoot rays at someone. Time can mess with time. Slow it down, speed it up, loop it, etc. power is exactly that. It can kill anyone, but us. No one knows what the soul can do. Reality can mess with the environment. And space can make you teleport, and freeze someone."

"So you can do these things?"

"I can." The other Cindy said as they went back to Cindy's room.

"Can I?"

"Isn't that the question of the day? I don't know about that. You might, you might not, but the point is. You know what these things can do, and what I can do. Get some sleep Cindy, cause you look like a homeless girl."

The other Cindy waved her hands in Cindy's face before she fell asleep.

When she woke up, at 9, she grabbed her walkie talkie that on the other line was Groopert. She turned it on, "Groopert" Cindy said urgently.

"Yeah." Groopert replied on the other line.

"I have knowledge on where these powers came from." Cindy said.

"Really?"

"I'll tell you later. Light maze. 11 am. Sharp. Tell the others." Cindy turned off the walkie talkie and got ready to go.

Two hours later, the gang was there "Hey guys. Oz, how's the broken arm?"

"Eh feeling a little better, it should be fixed by next week." Ozzy said.

"Good to know that, anyway, I think we all know why we're here." Cindy said as they began to walk through the light maze.

"Because you have knowledge on these powers?" Izzy said.

"Exactly. So, the other me came to visit last night and she told me about these powers which are from these crystals called the infinity stones and there are six of them" Cindy walked over to the colored light to show each colored stone. "She showed me mind, time, power, soul, reality, and space."

"Well, what do they do?" Ozzy said.

"I shall tell you."

Meanwhile, Luke, Grinch, Donna, and Martha are in the middle of tracking down Lou again. They were in a subway that led to another location.

“Any luck on Lou?” Donna asked Luke.

“Working on it.” Luke said.

“Great.” Donna said.

It was pretty quiet between the three of them. It felt like nothing was going to happen. They were wrong.

The train began to shake. They looked at each other. "Must've been a block or something" Grinch said.

Martha checked on the front side of the train "It's definitely not." she gasped in shock.

Back with Cindy.

"Wait, if there's time and space, how come those don't appear in your eyes?"

"Well my eyes are already blue, and I'm not sure about green."

Then, Cindy's eyes began to glow green. She looked like she froze in place. The friends look at each other in confusion. "Cindy you okay?"

Cindy came back to reality, thank god. "I need to see something." she blew past her friends and they quickly followed pursuit.

Cindy came out of the entrance along with her friends. A train was coming out of the ground. "Green equals foreseeing?" Izzy asked.

"No duh!" Cindy yelled.

In the train, Grinch, Donna, Luke, and Martha were tumbling all around the train. Donna jumped off a window to grab onto a pole for dear life. Luke was making sure people were safe. And Martha's foot was trapped under the seat. "HELP!" she yelled.

Grinch heard this and jumped across the poles to get to her. He grabbed her hand and yanked her out without her shoes. Now she was barefoot. "Thanks.”Martha said.

"Anytime. You have nice feet" Grinch said.

"Be quiet." Donna yelled.

Cindy looked at the running train in horror. She saw her parental figures in there. "We got to help out." Ozzy said

"How?” Cindy asked "We're kids, we can't fly. And also, it's out of our reach."

"She has a point Ozzy." Groopert said.

"Guys, I see the source." Izzy pointed to the source. “Lou!”

"Of course it's him." Groopert said.

"That blue stone he has, space! He has the space stone!" Cindy said.

“How is that even possible?” Ozzy asked.

“I don’t know!” Cindy yelled.

The train stopped. All the doors came out of it. The front window shattered.

"What's he doing?" Izzy said.

"Whatever it is, it's not going to be good." Ozzy said.

They saw him pulling something to him. It was Donna.

"MOM!" Cindy yelled as her eyes glowed purple and red she began to run at him. Groopert and Ozzy pulled her back. Cindy fighted with them to let her go. But it wasn't working. "We're not letting you do this. He's too powerful for a couple of kids!"

"I know that we're kids but I'm trying to do something right. AND YOU'RE STOPPING ME FROM DOING THAT!" Cindy yelled.

"YOU COULD DIE!!" Ozzy yelled.

"BY DOING SOMETHING THAT'S RIGHT!"

in Donna's POV. Lou is dead centered from her face "What do you want from me?" Donna asked.

"I want the girl.” Lou said.

"That's not happening." Donna said.

"The fate of the multiverse depends on it." Lou said.

"You're not making any sense." Donna said.

"I don't have to." Lou chuckled.

"HEY!" Grinch yelled "Put her down.” Luke said.

"Okay." Lou dropped her and Grinch went as fast as he could, activated the boots he had when he was stealing Christmas. She latched onto them and her fall was a lot less painful. She noticed Cindy and her friends were there. God damnit.

"RUN!" she yelled at them. Cindy heard her and turned. "I SAID RUN!" Lou turned to the kids.

"This is the part where we listen to your mom and run." Groopert said as they began to run as fast as they could.

Lou flew towards them.

The friends had no choice but to run past everyone. It was a matter of life and death. Lou was flying towards them so people began to run for their lives.

Lou pulled Cindy to him and she began to fly towards him if it weren't for Groopert grabbing onto her arm stopping her from getting further.

Then, the other Cindy came in and shot at him, scraping him in the shoulder. Cindy got to Lou face to face.

"LET ME GO!" Cindy yelled at him.

"Oh, that's not the kind of tone you use at your father." Lou said "Did you tell her everything?" he asked the other Cindy.

"I did."

"Good. Shake her hand."

Cindy was about to say what, but she looked at the other Cindy, she was beginning to look scared. She decided to play along "Never." she said.

Lou looked at her in disappointment. "Okay, your way." Lou said before blasting Cindy back to the others. She rolled across the ground to them. Groopert picked her up. She had a scrape on her forehead. It was starting to bleed. "We gotta get you back to the house."

Groopert and Ozzy hold Cindy's arms as they rush back to the house.


	6. Spiraling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donna breaks down. Cindy and the others recover from the train incident.

The tetralogy of friends walk into Donna's house. They placed Cindy on a chair "Get a towel." Groopert said.

Ozzy ran to the sink to get a wet towel. He came back with one wet towel. But when he came back, he noticed the forehead scrape was gone. He moved Cindy's blonde hair to find it. But nothing was there.

"There's no blood." Ozzy said.

Groopert looked close to not being surprised. Since with literally everything that has been going on. "Well, put her on the couch." he said as he grabbed Cindy's arm and nearly threw her against the couch.

"Ow." Cindy said.

"Izzy. Lock anyway they can get in." Izzy rushed across the room to lock the doors and windows.

Meanwhile, Grinch, Donna, and Martha were regrouping at Martha's house. Donna was blowing through the fridge to find something that can calm her down.

"You know I have to clean that up later." Martha said sitting on the couch.

"That's the least of my concerns right now." Donna said.

"Donna, I need you to take a breather," Grinch said calmly.

"YOU THINK I CAN KEEP CALM RIGHT NOW! MY THIEF OF A HUSBAND IS TRYING TO TAKE MY DAUGHTER!" Donna yelled at Grinch.

"I KNOW THAT! I WAS THERE FOR THE SHOW!" Grinch yelled back.

"Everyone calm down, this isn't getting us anywhere. We know his game now, now we need to figure out how to fire back." Martha said.

"Well I don't see you coming up with any ideas." Donna said.

"Well that's the point of teamwork. We work together, we combine our ideas, we can stop him." Martha said.

"I know that." Donna said.

The trio stayed silent for a few seconds. Donna was having a drink of water. Grinch was rubbing his head in silence. Martha was trying to keep her cool from blowing up.

"What now?" Grinch said quietly.

"I don't know." Donna said "My ex husband nearly killed me. Cindy might be able to do something I can't. Time feels like A Ticking, TIME LIMIT FOR ME THAT LEADS INTO SOMETHING HORRIBLE HAPPEN!" Grinch and Martha were looking at her in concern silently. Donna realized something then. They couldn't do this. He was more powerful than any of them. This might never end. All this weight she has been having for these years. With Cindy, her twins, her job, her husband, the other Cindy, every building block has been building up for her for years. Has finally...

Fallen.

Donna threw the glass cup against the wall and ran out the door. Grinch called out for donna but she slammed the door shut.

Martha quickly went to follow her. She opened the door of her house but she was literally nowhere. It was dead silent. Not a word could be heard.

Martha walked back in with her shoulders being tensed. She took out her phone. She dialed her number. She waited for 4 rings. It went to voicemail. Martha wasn't being calm in this situation "DONNA I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU DON'T COME BACK IMMEDIATELY, I AIN'T GOING TO BE HAPPY!" she hung up and placed it on the table.

A few minutes later, Grinch called into the walkie talkie for Cindy. "Cindy is Donna there?"

Martha told Grinch that each other's houses were only 2 minutes away at a walking point.

"No." Cindy said.

"No reason. Gotta go, she's okay." Grinch hung up and rubbed his temples.

"Relax Grinch, she's Donna. She's not going to do something ridiculous. She'll just get some air and come back, or at least, that's what she did when we were kids." Martha said.

Grinch looked at martha. "Well, shouldn't you always know since you're friends" grinch said

"Well, we haven't really seen each other that much. Our kids have seen each other a lot. But we didn't really talk that much."

"What happened between you two?"

Martha took a seat next to the Grinch.

"Well, it happened one day in our junior year of high school.”

...

A young Martha with glasses and longer hair was walking through the hallways of school. It was time to leave for the day. It seemed like a pretty normal day. Nothing really horrible happened.

A young Donna came up to her with a massive grin on her face.

Martha knew that type of grin she had. "Okay what type of shenanigans you want me to get into tonight?"

"Well, I feel like we can go to hang out with Lou tonight."

"Ugh, come on donna, we always do everything with Lou. Lou this, Lou that, Lou, Lou, Lou. Remember when it was just us, the duo?"

"Yeah, of course I do. But it is okay to make it a trio or not?"

"I know it's okay. But he's done some crazy stuff. Remember that time he tried to seduce us to buy alcohol.”

"Did it work?"

"No. I mean I did end up slapping him, followed by you."

"Come on Marthy, what's the worst that can happen?"

...

"The worse did happen." Martha said

"What was it?"

Before Martha could say anything, she felt her phone ring. She went to check it, it was Michael. She clicked it "Yes Michael?" she asked.

"Check channel 4 now."

"What?"

"NOW!"

"Okay." she grabbed her remote and turned the tv on. What they saw made their jaws drop to the floor.

...

Back at Cindy's house, Cindy is resting in her room. Groopert is sitting on the floor. They were pretty silent.

"Can I ask a question?" Groopert said

"Sure." Cindy said.

"When we were at the bus fiasco, why did you want to charge at it to save your mom, after saying that we shouldn't go to stop it?"

Cindy looked at him with sad eyes.

"Why do you think I did it?”

"To help your mom."

"Exactly. But did you expect me not to? I couldn't imagine having to live my life without my mom. Could you?"

Groopert looked at her again. "I couldn't either."

Cindy walked up closer to him "Looked if we all somehow make it out alive..." Cindy grabbed Groopert's hands "Maybe our lives could be normal from now on."

"That's good because all this crazy supernatural stuff has got me crazy."

Then, they just stare into each other's eyes. Almost hypnotized by them. It felt like minutes went by with them just staring at each other.

Cindy was about to walk back, but she tripped and nearly fell if it weren't for Groopert grabbing her hand. He yanked her to him and their lips almost connected with each other. They both begin to blush a deep red before Cindy gets her footing back and moves away.

"Sorry about that, I didn't mean to pull you that close."

"No it's okay. Accidents happen."

"Yeah, they do."

Then, they heard someone banging on the door. "SOMEONE OPEN THE DOOR IT'S GRINCH! I NEED YOU ALL TO COME WITH ME! I'LL EXPLAIN ON THE WAY!"

Cindy and Groopert looked at each other and began to run to the door. With Izzy and Ozzy already there. Groopert saw her mother at the door and she must've known this was important.

They all ran out and ran to wherever they were going.


	7. Divulgence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the group visits the hospital, all cards are put on deck.

Grinch, Martha, Cindy, Groopert, Izzy, and Ozzy rushed through the hospital doors. The kids were told everything Grinch and Martha knew.

Grinch tries to act calm in this situation. But was in such an adrenaline rush that he ended up nearly yelling at the woman at the counter "Donna Lou Who."

The woman saw the kind of shape they were in and quickly got to work on finding her. After silence bathed the entire hospital other than the beeping from the monitors. The woman found her room 143. You can't go in there right now. She needs a bit of rest. She'll live to see the sun again." The woman said with an easy tone.

This was able to ease the tension between everyone. But not enough to cut the cord. "Can at least one of us go in there?" Grinch asked.

"You can but I don't recommend you bring the kids." The woman said.

"Fair enough. I'm going. The rest of you stay here." Grinch said as he walked down the hallway.

"Wait what about me?" Martha said.

"Simple. I need someone to watch the kids." Grinch said with a ghost of a smile as he walked down to the room.

Martha facepalmed herself as she went to grab a chair in the waiting room. The kids followed her and grabbed an extra seat in the waiting room.

Grinch slowly walked into the room. Donna was there. Laying on the bed. Asleep. A heart monitor was beeping regularly. Thank god. There was a stitch that was on her forehead that nearly went to her left eye.

Grinch took a seat in a chair next to her. He grabbed a magazine and began to read it.

Cindy was fiddling with her fingers. This right now was the perfect time to freak out. But, she doesn't want to accidentally explode the place. She's taking deep breaths.

Izzy knows her feelings right now, so she's trying to comfort her. "Relax Cindy, they say she's gonna live."

"I know they said that. But *sniff* what if it happens again?" Cindy said

"I know, but there's a chance that it won't."

"My mother tried to kill herself. If you think this will be the only time, it's unpredictable if she will do it again."

"I know about that Cindy. But even still..."

"Just Stop." Cindy said, her voice becoming demonic.

Izzy turned away from her wide eyed.

Cindy rubs her face.

"I'm sorry about that. I'm rightfully stressed out."

"And that's okay."

"Yeah. I'm just scared. Not just for my mom, not just for my friends, but for myself."

"What?"

"Think about it. I can possibly be the strongest being in the universe. And I don't even know how to control it. I don't want to be the cause of losing any of you."

"Listen to me Cindy. You are not losing any of us until we are 80 year olds on the verge of death."

Cindy slowly smiled at that. "Okay, Thanks Iz."

Back with the Grinch, he's just waiting for donna to wake up to talk some flipping sense into her.

"Damn it."

He looked away from the magazine to see Donna's eyes barely open. They were red. Look tired from what he saw.

"Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it." she kept saying that. Over and over again. Like a broken record.

He knew what she meant.

He threw the magazine across the room to get her attention. She noticed it and seemed to barely react. Like a fly just flew past her.

Grinch began to yell at Donna. "DONNA! WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU! SERIOUSLY! WHAT IS IT? YOU TIRED TO GET RUN OVER BY A TRAIN ON PURPOSE AND YOU'RE UPSET THAT YOU SOMEHOW MADE IT OUT ALIVE!"

"Well, when you have a husband that tried to kidnap your possibly super powered daughter and you're basically the cause of it all, you tend to have breaking points."

"DONNA WERE YOU EVEN THINKING STRAIGHT! WHAT ABOUT CINDY! WERE YOU JUST GONNA LEAVE HER UP TO ME TO TAKE CARE OF?!"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"DONNA, YOU KNOW HOW THE SAYING GOES! IF YOU'RE THE ONE THAT STARTS IT YOU'RE THE ONE THAT ENDS IT?"

"Who on earth says that?"

"SOMEONE SAID IT AT ONE POINT! ANYWAY DONNA YOU NEED TO GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!"

"Well, what did you expect?"

"HOW DID YOU EXPECT THIS TO TURN OUT! THAT ONCE YOU DIED EVERYTHING WILL ALL BE SUNSHINES AND RAINBOWS AFTER THAT! OF COURSE NOT! AS A MATTER OF FACT, IT COULD'VE HAVE GOTTEN WORSE AFTER YOU DIED!"

"OF COURSE I DIDN'T EXPECT IT TO BE HAPPINESS BUT I DID DO IT SO I CAN'T LIVE WITH THAT GUILT THAT I CAN BE FREE FROM ALL OF THE WORRIES YOU CAN'T IMAGINE WHAT THAT FEELS LIKE!”

"I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THAT FEELS LIKE. I STOLE ALL OF CHRISTMAS BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE THE MISSING PIECE TO MY PUZZLE. THEN YOUR DAUGHTER HELPED ME BECOME THE MAN I AM TODAY. YOUR DAUGHTER IS ONE OF THE NICEST SOULS I HAVE EVER MET. WHICH IS WHY IT'S UNBELIEVABLE FOR ME THAT LOU IS HER FATHER!"

Donna laid back down and simply sighed. Grinch rubbed his temples. "Want me to go get Cindy?"

"Sure, you can do that.

Grinch walked out of the hospital room. Slamming the door in the process.

Grinch walked into the lobby. "Cindy. Your mother wants to see you?"

"Okay," Cindy said as she hopped off the chair and walked down. Grinch followed.

Cindy opened the door to see her mother.

And everything after that, happened so fast.

First, they saw the other Cindy in the room. Second, she was absorbing something outta donna. Three, her heartbeat stopped.

Cindy as soon as she saw that, ran to the other Cindy and pounced at her like a tiger. They fell on the floor and the normal Cindy was on top

The grinch looked over the monitor. The heart rate said zero.

"WHAT DID YOU DO!" Cindy said

"I did that."

Cindy turned around to see the monitor. Nothing but a straight line.

Cindy couldn't move. She was gone. It was as if she was turning into a statue.

She fell to her knees and began to sob uncontrollably. Her mother was gone. She wished she could do something about it, she wished she could go back in time and warned herself from the past to say that she was going to get kidnapped.

But she couldn't.

Then, something in her. Snapped. Almost like, something dormant in her has finally been released.

She wasn't sure what it was until she noticed that she was beginning to stand up? Wait, she still feels her knees are in front of her legs.

SHE WAS FLYING UP IN THE AIR!

She looked at Grinch, who looked beyond surprise.

She felt a burst of all this energy corpse through her veins. She felt her eyes changing colors. It felt so strange and yet. So good.

She turned to the other Cindy as she curled up into a ball and yelled. Releasing a wave of purple energy that sended them all away. The windows shattered into a million pieces.

Cindy's eyes turned into a clear white. Then, both her and the other cindy were out the window.

Grinch ran to the window. He could barely see the other cindy being beaten by the normie Cindy.

Martha and Cindy's friends bursted through the doors.

"What happened?" Martha said. Then, she saw Donna. Dead.

“Wh-what happened!” Martha yelled.

"I'll tell you later. We need to get Cindy. NOW!"

Grinch ran out the room, followed by everyone else.

The two Cindys landed in the valleys. They tumbled down a hill and landed separated from each other.

Normal Cindy quickly got back up and lunged at the other one. She threw her hand up and a purple flame ignited from it.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down. That's a smidge too far."

"YOU KILLED MY MOM!" Cindy yelled at her.

"Can you at least let me explain?"

"NO! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!"

Then, she saw the stone her father had. She grabbed it and looked at it.

"Isn't this my father's?"

"Yes. I stole it from him."

"Why?"

"In exchange..."

"Exchange for what?"

"...I’m dying" the other Cindy said.

"What?"

"Okay, I’m you. But I am also not you. You are my host body. And if i don't have a host body, I'll die. So if we shake hands, we'll become one body."

"Like that's gonna happen."

"Wait. I didn't explain why I gave you the stone. I saw the future. You're gonna need that."

"Well, WHY DID YOU KILL MY MOTHER!"

"Because she wanted me to."

Cindy made her fist burn a purple flame again "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!"

"I CAME TO HER ROOM TO SEE YOU THEN SHE ASKED IF I CAN KILL SOMEONE! I SAID I CAN AND SHE ASKED ME TO KILL HER! I DON'T KNOW WHY!"

Then, Groopert lunged at her and they fell down. Cindy turned around to see Grinch, Martha, Izzy, and Ozzy running down the hill.

Groopert came back with Cindy. Everyone had a shocked face. Cindy finally took a moment to breath and finally took in the shock of what just happened.

She has superpowers.

The other Cindy climbed over to her and handed her something else. "If you want to find me, use this." She handed her a map.

Then, she flew away in an instant.

Cindy fell on her knees and began to cry again.

Martha walked over to confront her. Grinch did so too. Cindy hugged Groopert tightly and he returned it back. Izzy and Ozzy walked over to.

After what felt like an eternity of hugging, someone coughed to get their attention.

They turned around to see someone that looked nothing like a who. He had short brown hair, wore a black trenchcoat, a blue hat, red gloves,and something was in his hands.

"Sorry mister what's your name?" Martha asked.

"My name is James. And I think I can give you all the answers you want."


End file.
